Lauren Fedor is the chief reporter at City A.M., covering politics, banking and financial regulation.

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The IEA called the NHS is a "demographic timebomb" (Source: Getty)

A leading think tank is attacking the National Health Service (NHS) with a new paper arguing the service is failing current and future patients.

Kristian Niemietz, head of health and welfare at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), said the NHS is a “demographic timebomb” with an unsustainable funding structure that leads to poor health outcomes and lack of patient choice. Niemietz lays much of the blame for what he calls the “current unsatisfactory standard of healthcare” on politicians’ short-term decisions.

The latest British Social Attitudes Survey found 65 per cent of people were “very” or “quite” satisfied with the NHS, the second-highest level ever recorded.